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Retrospect
In Retrospect, you take control of Cee. Cee is a robot girl (or cyborg/android? it's a mystery!) who is awoken from her cryogenic slumber, shortly finding out that she slept in -- for about 300 years too late. Story Human civilization hits a pinnacle of technological breakthroughs. Flying cars, androids, holoscreens, you name it. Well... or at least that's how it was 300 years ago, before a great cataclysm tore down the entire civilization. Since then, the human race has dwindled down to small settlements now governed by a technophobic organization known by many names, including DESCENT, or the "Technophobes". And with cities crumbled and machines inactive, nature has taken back, and jungles litter most of the world. The plants and wildlife now strangly mimic their automaton predecessors. Cee is one of the (if not the only) last remnants of the past's technologies, and now sets off to survive and possibly figure out who she is, and what's going on. Gameplay Elements Genre: 2D Action Shooter Platformer Involves customizing mechanics to allow Cee to adapt to many situations. You have a few equip slots: *Arms -- for weapons/etc. *Auxiliary -- for additional "action" moves, like rocketting or hovering. *Nodes -- her floating hair-bun-esque nodes can be equipped with things like a radar or automatic turrets. *Engine -- Changes her entire body functions (and any other Engine besides her default is not compatible with the other equip slots), like becoming a rubber ball or a watertight submarine. And then you have a (growing) ring of stat boosters for Enhancers: *Cooling Conduit -- Allows more storage of Energy *Power Card -- Increases damage output of weapons. *R.A.M.B.O.X. -- Increases speed (and jump?) *Defender Disc -- Increases defense. Other Elements The Hammerspace Directory : Objectifying the trope of characters being able to store large/many objects in a small space, the Hammerspace Directory makes this believable by turning CEE's bulk objects into data or back into physical objects. She keeps the object in a hidden pocket in her hoodie. Heart Cores : Throughout the main story, Cee will gain "Heart Cores", which are robotic components embedded with human emotions. They increase Cee's maximum health, and grow her personality. You could say it's a technological approach to character development. Neo Creatures : While many of the creatures are brand new in this world since 300 years ago, some of them have only just grew along with the times, and are very familiar. Backstory Galore : Chunks of the backstory are spread out into every nook and cranny of the world, revealing little by little what happened 300 years ago. Maybe even some hints as to what happened even further than 300 years ago. Recycled Concepts : Many of the concepts in this game are recyled from old and lost concepts of mine. Some concepts also follow recurring elements that are within my other projects. Either way, many elements may be familiar to those who have known my works for a long time. : But here's a whole list of recycled elements: *"Retrospect" is borrowed from Heartblade's old name; "!Retrospective". This game borrows quite a few elements that were in !Retrospective and were removed. And this time, the name actually fits in with the plot. *CEE is a cyborg, much like how Dinx and Diji used to be in an older version of Heartblade, so their old elements are used to make up CEE. *CEE's hoodie is inspired by Dinx's original hoodie - along with the concept that it's the only piece of clothing that she wears. *CEE's antennae-like ears are inspired by Dinx's old cyborg ears. *The Hammerspace Directory used to be one of Diji's powers, and still retains a yellow-energy theme as a throwback to the original concept. *Diji used to have floating hair buns similar to CEE's. *In point of the story, CEE is shot from a cannon via evacuation capsule and lands in someone's house, a throwback to what happened to Dinx in the original version of Heartblade. *A character named Zeko is a recycled character from an older version of Heartblade. He was even blind in his original design. His related side-quest has more throwback to his original concept. *The massive ruined city is Neon City, which is the same city that the original Heartblade took place in. *Several creatures you encounter are recycled creatures/characters. *There's a lot more, but they're spoilers! Characters *Mardmibel - Colonel and leader of DESCENT *Apatha and Thamla -- Twin sisters who run a clinic *Dr. Atama Loyde -- A scientist who's really interested in the leftovers of technology. DESCENT really have their eyes on her. *Tomas Loyde -- Atama's brother and a grunt of DESCENT. *Sages -- Wise folk who've been around for centuries. *Tre -- Not much is known about him, other than he rarely talks. *Zeko -- A young man who was blinded recently. He doesn't take his situation very optimistically, since the only treatment that could return his vision back is now deemed illegal, and even likely to be lost. *Dr. Tesma Toramo -- A scientist of the past who's a complete mystery. Inspirations Games that inspired major elements of Retrospect: *The Iconoclasts *Cave Story *FEZ *Megaman *Metroid